Mayo Visit

[Guest guest]

Twilla,

I understand yours and your husband's reluctance to go to Rochester to

Mayo's Clinic. Chuck and I went in April. This was the third or fourth

time in 6 years.

I know that it is very hard to travel; it is for us, and staying in a

motel, even the tt is no picnic. Giving an enema to someone in a

motel is sort of like the three stooges. I needed three hands and didn't

have them. And then there is the cleaning up.

Chuck is like Fred, Vera's husband, I guess. You have to hold him down.

He thinks he can do everything, but mostly it's that he won't give in to

the next disability. Among many, my remembrance of that week included

sitting in the hotel room wondering where he was. He insisted he could

take the 24 hour fecal sample to the correct desk alone. I pictured him

lurching through the halls, banging into a wall or a person and tossing

the whole package in the air. Actually he was so proud of himself when he

came back, he said he walked fast enough to pass two people on his long

journey. Package delivered.

The walking back and forth between the test appointments is daunting. If

your patient is willing to use one of the many available wheelchairs,

that's great. Chuck wasn't willing. At one point when he had 15 minutes

to get from the sweat test, which leaves you very debilitated, to the MRI

two blocks away, the nurse and I tossed him into a wheel chair and he

complained the whole time. I bought a Mayo Clinic tee shirt, since I

needed a clean shirt, and when I wear it at home, I think it means that

" Hey, I got Chuck through the week there. Good for me. "

But the worst part for me was that Chuck gets a little confused when the

BP drops and he's very tired, and he had no idea where he was to go next

most of the time. This gives the care-taker quite a job. I know what you

are talking about, Carol, when the cognitive stuff starts going. It's not

just that all of a sudden the caretaker is alone, but that he or she has

to think for two people---a big reponsibility, and a sad one.

Having said all this, I encourage you, Twilla, to go to Mayo. Not only

will you get closer to the proper diagnosis, but some things will be

ruled out that you would forever wonder about later. And hopefully, some

treatment will be suggested that has not been already.

Cheers,

Barbara Woodford